American colonization of Mars
American colonization of Mars began in 2023, when a public-private expedition headed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Mars Corporation launched for Mars in 2022 to being the manned exploration and settlement of Mars. The Expedition 1 mission took astronauts and their Ares spacecraft to the Martian surface on April 26, 2023, after a long flight from Earth. The Mars Exploration Vessel remained in orbit before returning to Earth to retrieve another complement of colonists. Five subsequent NASA-led missions also landed astronauts on Mars, the last in December 2032 before transitioning to a MarsCorp-led program. The Frontier program succeeded in achieving its goal of manned Mars landing before transitioning to MarsCorp leadership. First proposed as a sustained series of exploration missions to Mars, the program eventually expanded to become a fifty year architecture to explore, terraform, and colonize Mars for human civilization. NASA partnered with several private companies looking to establish a commercial presence on Mars to help finance the Frontier program, forming the Mars Corporation, who would go on to organize and lead the bulk of Frontier program missions, while NASA would have access to scientific stations. Background The Frontier program was conceived in the private sector, largely through Elon Musk and SpaceX, with the goal of human colonization of Mars. While the Dragon capsule could only support seven astronauts on a limited Earth orbital mission, what would become Ares Lander would carry up to 100 astronauts. Possible missions included ferrying crews to a Phobos station, Martian flyby, and eventual manned Mars landings. Meanwhile, NASA's funding for a super-heavy lifter stalled while scientific and astrodynamic data for a Mars mission far outweighed the work done in the private sector. Public-private partnerships had been reached for space station resupply, but as political pressure built, the alliance between NASA and the private sector became more formalized for a Mars mission. 'Private sector projects' In January 2016, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced the SpaceX Mars Colony project to industry representatives at a series of space advocacy and industry conferences. Preliminary specifications were laid out for a spacecraft capable of carrying upwards of 100 individuals to Mars, and a reusable new super-heavy lifter. By August, over two dozen corporations had been formed to organize mining and infrastructure projects on Mars, and RedWorks had produced its first prototype regolith printer for habitat construction. Meanwhile, NASA performed its own in-house spacecraft design studies to determine the viability of the private sector missions. 'Political pressure builds' In November 2020, Cory Booker was elected president after a campaign that promised American superiority over the Russian Federation in the fields of space exploration and missile defense. Privately, Booker was deeply concerned about the buildup in inexpensive anti-satellite weapons in Russia and China, and wanted to build up US military assets in space. Upon taking office, Booker formed the Conference for a New American Space Age to gain feedback from the aerospace industry on how to proceed with the space program for defense and exploration. During the conference, industry and NASA representatives submitted the idea of forming a public/private corporation to oversee long term development on Mars, investing in space propulsion and habitation research, and building up US launch capacity through NASA and the Air Force. The Space Boom 'NASA Expansion' 'Space Command Expansion' Founding MarsCorp Spacecraft 'Interplanetary Transport System' The Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) was the first combined launch vehicle and spacecraft designed to carry up to 100 colonists and astronauts from launch, to landing and return with minimal crew. It was the first spacecraft in history to be completely reusable, thus making it cheap enough for individuals to book passage to Mars. The spacecraft was divided into two vehicles, a super heavy lifter and a spacecraft. ''Constitution-Class'' Spaceship The exterior of the spacecraft was covered with a composite heat shield, and had its own reaction control system (RCS) engines to control its attitude and steer its atmospheric entry path. Parachutes were carried to slow its descent in the event of total engine failure and emergency splashdown. The vehicle was 49.5 m (162 ft)-tall, has a maximum hull diameter of 12 m, and was 17 m (56 ft)-diameter at its widest point, and is capable of transporting up to 450 tonnes (990,000 lb) of cargo and passengers to Mars. The Constitution-Class was initially developed to conduct all Mars transport operations, and indeed the first three human landings were conducted exclusively with the Interplanetary Transport System. However, rapid advances in in-space propulsion made it more efficient for ships to simply dock with motherships in orbit. SpaceX had planned fo rhte Constitution-Class to remain in service for up to 30 years to be eventually replaced by the much larger spacecraft, however the deveolopment of the Goddard-Class Spaceship necessitated the early development of the Ares ''series by 2035. Despite the vehicle's early replacement, Constitution-Class spacecraft remained in service among a number of independent operators well into the 2050s. Goddard-Class'' Spaceship The Robert H. Goddard-Class Mars Exploration Vessel (MEV) was a large mothership spacecraft, designed to carry three Constitution-class spaceships from Earth orbit to Mars and back to Earth orbit in a continuous cycle. It was the only component of the early Frontier spacecraft to be constructed largely off-Earth in the newly built Tycho Shipyards. Its exterior was composed of a lunar-forged stainless steel, and was propelled and powered by the most advanced fusion power plant at the time. An ablative heat shield was positioned forward of the habitation and lander node, which let the MEV achieve aerobraking to conserve fuel. The ship was 352 ft (107.3 m), 31 feet (9.45 m) in diameter (at the propulsion stage), and weighed approximately 1500 tonnes. The propulsion stage of the craft extended from the habitation section along a narrow assembly where the reactor (a Lockheed-Martin Fusion Reactor), engine, and fuel were all contained. The crew-habitation section consisted of one large ring linked to the core of the space craft, where all landing craft and EVA systems were housed. At the apex of the craft was the ships' command deck, a comparatively small module that housed all flight control systems. At the most forward section of the ship was the aerobraking shield. Early versions of the MEV were constructed primarily out of steel, with valuable alloys only used in the reactor and propulsion stage. As lunar industrial production improved, later generation vehicles included more powerful reactors, graphene radiators, and a secondary hull around the fuel and habitation module. 'Vehicle summary' ''Ares-Class'' Spaceship The core of the ship housed three Ares lading craft, that were the primary vehicle for reaching and leaving the Martian surface. Built by SpaceX and launched from Earth, these capsules were created to house a maximum of 250 individuals, land under its own power and return after processing methane fuel from the Martian atmosphere. While the craft could carry as many as one hundred people to the surface, however, that number was usually reduced for transporting payloads. ''Von Braun-Class'' Spaceship Werner Von Braun-Class MEV was the first civilian interplanetary spacecraft built entirely at the Tycho Shipyards. At 500 m long, 50.2 m in diameter (at the propulsion stage), and a dry mass of 6000 tonnes, the Von Braun was the largest vehicle ever built at the time of its launch. Capable of transporting up to 8 Ares-class spaceships to Mars from Earth, the Von Braun could carry up to 2000 individuals to Mars per flight, on a 18 day trip. At the height of production in 2035 'Early O'Neil Ships' In the 2040s the first O'Neil ships for dedicated passenger flights entered service. While comparatively small by modern ships, these early spacecraft represented an order magnitude increase in traffic to Mars, and were a critical component in the planet's early population boom prior to full colonization. Program History 'Expedition 1' In March 2023, the Mars Corporation's three ships, containing 100 men and women, lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. After record setting voyage of 27 days, they made landfall on April 26, 2023 in the heart of the Uzboi Basin, which they named Meridian Base. Upon landing they deployed Conestoga robots to craft their first habitat. In addition to survival, the early colonists were contracted or employed to conduct research for NASA, the largest partners in MarsCorp at the time. Of the first hundred, 65 were NASA mission specialists, the remaining 35 were private citizens with the National Science Foundation and the US Geological Survey. Initially, the colonists were governed by a station commander and seven-member council selected by NASA. Leadership problems quickly erupted. Meridian's first two leaders coped with varying degrees of success with sickness, dust-storms, poor food and water supplies, and general discontent. Many colonists were ill-prepared to carve out a new settlement on a frontier. When Lionel Halvidar established himself as a leader in Bradbury, he proved the strong leader that the colony needed, and his example was emulated at Meridian 'Tier-1 Colonization' After the first NASA-led mission, MarsCorp began opening seats for purchase for private citizens and sending out commercial flights for individual settlers and associate-company programs. 'Terraforming' While the initial development of Mars proved to be very successful, the long term goal of the Frontier Program was ultimately to establish a second home for humanity. Initially, this was a very esoteric goal, with no clear path outlined to practically achieve it beyond continually establishing commercial bases. It wasn't until the Bradbury working group began pushing for geo-engineering efforts that terraforming was seriously considered. The terraforming effort was being planned throughout the course of the Frontier Program's early days by factions within the Mars Corporation, but never seriously advocated. The new Luddite movement that arose in response to The Flood, blamed human meddling for the loss of the Ice Caps and opposed directed efforts on Mars, and in turn drove NASA to bury any public support for Terraforming. Pressure from the Bradbury colonies pushed the other members of MarsCorp to more strongly advocate for an aggressive terraforming campaign in 2029. Over the course of the next five years, MarsCorp in concert with its assoicate members of the space mining industry, launched a series of missions to the Asteroid belt and constructed a battery of facilities on the surface of Mars for terraforming purposes. Genetically modified terraforming agents were dispersed across the planet to begin bio-leeching CFC and other atmosphere buffers, as well as consolidating salts and building up a soil-base. In 2033 Lunar Energy Ltd. deployed the first Mars Solar Mirrors, massive reflective spacecraft that would reflect the sun's radiation across the planet's surface. These ships, the Apollo, the Freyr, the Garuda, the Lugh, the Helios, the Amaterasu, and the Ra were constructed out of next generation nanoprinters on Luna, and would later support the Refreeze project on Earth. With the mirrors and the terraforming agents working in harmony, Mars's atmosphere began to build up and the temperature of the planet began to rise. 'Bio-seeding' While the geo-engineering projects were still underway, humanity began the decades long process of giving Mars a sustainable biosphere. While most of the primordial Martian life was cloned to return to the new seas, most of the life was brought in from Earth and genetically engineered to most effectively balance the biosphere. Mars was the first planet where the ecology was largely artificial, and tailored not just for the terrain, but to best suit the humans who would come to inhabit the planet in mass. Bacteria test chambers across the planet were opened to improve the soil base when the first mirrors constructed by Lunar Energy Ltd. were permitted to begin surfacing heating. By 2030 the icy and carbon rich asteroids were deorbited on long re-entry paths into the atmosphere releasing huge amounts of heat energy or blanketing the poles with a black soot. Disposable drones were automatically produced and dispersed GM bacteria and lichens across the surface to take advantage and further spur these conditions. These organisms, spread across the planet's surface processing the toxic dust into a usable soil base and extracting greenhouse gasses from the soil. When a given condition of these organisms would be met (O3 levels rising to a certain point, the selenium content of the soil, etc.) a fail-safe in their genome would trigger their demise, depositing more vitamins into the new soil base. Once the planet became warm enough to support liquid water on the surface, genetically modified strains of lichens, and algae were introduced into and around the newly formed oceans, rivers, and seas. These tough creatures had very short life spans, but spread and reproduced rather quickly. Both organisms were engineered to increase oxygen production, but specific strains were engineered to process the perchlorate salts in and around these bodies into either useful soil additives like Magnesium and Calcium, or into sodium salts and sources of Ozone. Once CO2 levels dropped sufficiently in an area the basic oraganisms would no longer reproduce as vigorously and more advanced life could be seeded. Once temperatures reached high enough levels, moss, small brush and ferns, and corals were seeded, ramping up oxygen production. The whole process only took about a decade due to human intervention and the genetically modified nature of the flora. Category:Mars Category:Space Age